By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

ELECTION GUIDE

Election Guide 2003 Cincinnati.com provides an early look at the Nov. 4 vote with help on getting you registered, lists of area candidates and the latest campaign news. And there's more to come, including candidate profiles - as we get closer to Election Day.

Cincinnati has a long tradition of electing conservative Democrats, African-American Republicans and non-ideological Charterites. City Council races are technically non-partisan, and campaign finance rules have limited the power of political parties.

At the same time, most observers would say that the 38th City Council has become more pragmatic and less partisan than its predecessors.

Just as one might be led to believe parties don't matter at City Hall, along comes a City Council campaign to stir partisan passions.

The GOP, with just two seats on the nine-member council, is fielding its longest slate in a decade, sensing a wave of anti-crime sentiment that the party hopes will carry its candidates into office.

But Democrats, the party in power, are boasting of successes in improving the quality of life - and say Republican ideas are already getting accomplished at City Hall.

Republican challengers like John Connelly and Terry Deters constantly remind voters that Democrats and Charterites have run City Hall for 32 years. Democrats, they say, are the party of failed leadership and the status quo.

"Today, we got three Democrats to vote for a modest tax rollback," said Pat DeWine, City Council's longest-serving Republican, after a 5-4 vote Wednesday to undo last year's partial property tax hike.

"If we had three or four or five Republicans, we could start talking about real tax relief. It's only because there's an election 13 days away that we were able to repeal the property tax increase we passed last year."

Democrat David Pepper said it's disingenuous of Republicans to say only GOP candidates can fight crime or make city government more efficient. The Democratic majority, which includes Laketa Cole, John Cranley, David Crowley and Alicia Reece, has often crossed ideological lines to get things done, he said.

"The partisanship seems to come up only at election time," Pepper said. "At non-election time, I see unanimous budgets, and I see a Republican chairman of the Law and Safety Committee able to get his agenda through council. There's not much of the Republican agenda that doesn't get a good hearing or doesn't get implemented."

Out of power for 32 years, the Republican party has tried a short-ticket strategy in the past, consolidating Republican votes into a few well-financed candidates.

This year, however, Republicans are putting forth a full ticket of aggressive challengers, which also includes Leslie Ghiz, Tom Jones, Sam Malone, Barbara W. Trauth and Pete Witte.

The idea: Don't give the Republican faithful the opportunity to cross over and vote for conservative or moderate Democrats.

Democrats are shifting strategies in the opposite direction. They're running a short ticket of seven (five incumbents and two challengers). They endorsed Samuel T. Britton, 70, a respected four-term state legislator, and Howard H. Bond, 65, a park commissioner and former school board member.

Mayor Charlie Luken, a conservative Democrat, has largely stayed out of the council race. He was directly elected to a four-year term in 2001.

Democrats and Republicans have worked well together since 2001, Luken said.

"Not only has it been more civil and collaborative, but it's been more effective," said Luken, who was a ringleader in the bipartisan "Gang of Five" that held control of City Council from 1985-91.

E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com